


Sucker-punch

by Butterfly



Category: The Vampire Diaries
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-19
Updated: 2011-01-19
Packaged: 2017-10-17 13:21:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/177270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Butterfly/pseuds/Butterfly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stefan's good morning gets a little complicated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sucker-punch

It was, Stefan reflected, a particularly beautiful morning. He could hear the forest waking up outside the house - birds chirping and rabbits rustling in the brush - Elena was snuggled right into his arms, and no one had tried to kill them in over a month.

"I kissed Damon," Elena said, the words mushed together and rushed out but clear enough for Stefan's ears. Stefan should have known that the morning was too good to be true. He did a quick mental check about whether or not Damon would be able to listen to this conversation - no Damon-noises in the house and Stefan vaguely recalled something about Damon planning to spend the night getting drunk with Alaric because... ah, it was the anniversary of Isobel being turned. Stefan wasn't sure if it was a memorial or not. He hadn't wanted to ask.

"Okay," he said, opening his eyes and shifting up so that he could look down into Elena's face. "He kissed you or you kissed him?"

Elena was wearing that determined, open expression that she had - the one that said, _we are going to talk about a difficult truth this morning, no matter what you say_. Elena's face was gorgeous and Stefan never got tired of looking at her, but he had to admit that this wasn't his favorite version of Elena. He knew what she would say before she opened her mouth.

"I kissed him," she said. The slim band of her pajamas slipped down her shoulder. Her brows knit together - disappointment and confusion. In herself, Stefan guessed. "I'm not sure how it happened, though."

"Do you think he compelled you?" Stefan asked, reaching out and tracing the chain of her necklace.

She shook her head but he hadn't expected anything different, not with Elena. Her mouth twisted and she wasn't looking directly at him.

"Are you going to kiss him again?" Stefan asked and that made her eyes go right up to meet his. Her skin paled and then flushed, the blood rushing underneath, almost dizzying in how it heated up her face. Stefan's teeth throbbed, but he pushed the urge back without needing to think consciously about it.

"I hadn't planned on kissing him the first time," Elena said. "I was just so mad at him and-"

"You kissed him because you were mad at him?" Even through the strange, hollow feeling that Elena's confession had given him, Stefan couldn't help but find that amusing. "Elena, you realize that he's going to be _trying_ to make you mad again now."

"It's not like he has to try," Elena grumbled, then she flushed again at wherever that thought led her. Her eyes flicked downward and her voice got small and quiet. "I'm sorry, Stefan."

"You're not Katherine," Stefan said and he could feel the way her body tensed up and then relaxed again as she processed his words. She shook her head slightly, such a small movement that he wasn't even sure that she was aware of it. "You're not. No matter what happens. Katherine was playing with us - playing us against each other. You've never done that."

"I just... I didn't mean to do it," Elena said and there was so much that she wasn't saying that Stefan could still hear because he understood the feeling so well - _I didn't mean to care about him again, not so much, not after Jeremy_. It's a struggle that Stefan had to go through himself, when he'd realized that no matter what Damon did, Stefan would love him again if given the chance. Stefan stroked Elena's hair and then tilted his head - a door was opening on the ground floor.

"He's home," Stefan said.

Elena's heart sped up.

  
**~end~**   



End file.
